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Global life and health insurer American Life Insurance Company (ALICO), a subsidiary of American International Group (NYSE: AIG), received authorization from the Costa Rican insurance market watchdog to set up an insurance company in Costa Rica.

ALICO is the first global insurance group to be authorized for business in Costa Rica after the country opened up its insurance market to competition in August of 2008, as a result of Costa Rica’s Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) financial services commitments.  The authorization was granted on 5 October 2009 and the company must now comply with several additional steps before it can begin operations, such as depositing the minimum start-up capital of nearly US$3.5 million.
 
ALICO is one of the largest and most diversified international insurance companies in the world, with over 19 million insured in over 50 countries.  In applying for its Costa Rican license, ALICO relied on advice from Alberto Zavala, its Chile-based General Counsel for Latin America.  ALICO was represented in Costa Rica by BLP Abogados partner Neftalí Garro and associates Said Breedy, Rosalía Román and Marianna Fonseca.
 
Garro, who heads the firm’s insurance practice group and was involved in the drafting of the laws that opened up the market to competition, explained that “[t]his is a big step forward in the modernization of Costa Rica’s insurance market.  As companies of this caliber step up to the plate and decide to invest in Costa Rica, we will see increased competition that will necessarily bring about more products, better prices and improved service.”